* landscape | Productive Urban Landscapes

The neighbourhood garden is part of a more-than-human vision of future cities. (source: Katrin Bohn 2023)

Mühlhausen guests visit community gardens in Berlin

It is always an experience to visit a community garden in Berlin, Germany. Last week, Katrin led a tour of Spiel/Feld Marzahn and Prinzessinnengarten Moritzplatz for representatives of the city administration of Mühlhausen/Thür. The Thuringian town in the centre of Germany plans a community garden as part of their 5-year-long Smart City urban development project….

Katrin Bohn • 13th November 2023

Lore of the Wild is an audio storywalk, co-created and written by Bernadette Russell and Sophie Austin. (source: Melanie Smith, walk-listen-create website, 2022)

INVITE: Sound Walk September 2022

Now entering its fifth year, walk · listen · create is very excited to remind us of the open call for soundwalks to be celebrated this autumn, during Sound Walk September. Crowdsourced from around the world, Sound Walk September each year celebrates all forms of soundwalks and sound walking events, culminating in the Sound Walk…

Katrin Bohn • 22nd August 2022

Co-Living in the Countryside by Charles Holland Architects with Quality of Life Foundation, Verity-Jane Keefe, Joseph Zeal-Henry (source: The Davidson Prize / Charles Holland Architects 2022)

A Productive Landscape features in architectural competition shortlist

Congratulations! Our colleague at the University of Brighton, Prof Charles Holland, heads a team that has just been shortlisted for this year’s Davidson Prize which aims to reward transformative architecture of the home. Charles Holland Architects’ proposal, created in conjunction with the Quality of Life Foundation, Verity-Jane Keefe, and Joseph Zeal-Henry, is titled Co-Living in…

Katrin Bohn • 11th April 2022

Researchers from the Wild Pollinator Project observe and record cultured and wild plant species in 18 community gardens in Berlin. (source: TU München and Museum für Naturkunde Update Ergebnisse 2021)

Spiel/Feld: The more plant species, the higher the number of wild bee species

The Wildbienenprojekt [Wild Pollinator Project], a collaboration of 18 Berlin community gardens – among them Spiel/Feld Marzahn [Playing/Field Marzahn] -, the National History Museum Berlin [Museum für Naturkunde Berlin], the Technical University of Munich [Technische Universität München] and the Technical University of Berlin [Technische Universität Berlin], will soon – in April – start into its…

Katrin Bohn • 7th March 2022

2km of hedgerows have been reintroduced to Woodoaks Farm, . (source: Soil Association, video still, 2022)

Hedge planting at the Soil Association’s Woodoaks Farm

‘It takes a community to run a farm’, says Rose Lewis, programme manager at Woodoaks Farm, in a video published today by the Soil Association. Rose is one of many local residents who, last November, helped planting hedges at a new Soil Association farm, Woodoaks Farm in Hertfordshire. The Woodoaks hedge planting campaign had raised…

Katrin Bohn • 11th February 2022

COP26 highlights that the urgency of climate action is being felt by all stakeholder groups of our society. (source: Sustain / NiklasPntk, Pixabay www 2021)

Sustain calls for food on the menu at COP26

The Jellied Eel, a project of London Food Link and Sustain, made us aware of an open letter to the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling for action to reduce the climate impacts of food and farming. Coordinated by Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming, 50 health, environment and farming organisations have written…

Katrin Bohn • 5th November 2021

Ten-step recommendation for urban designers, planners, and local decision makers supporting development of green infrastructure with an agroecological focus (source: Katrin Bohn 2019)

Bohn and Chu publish article on food-productive green infrastructure

We are pleased to announce that, two weeks ago, the open-access article Food-productive green infrastructure: Enabling agroecological transitions from an urban design perspective by Dr. Dong Chu and Katrin Bohn was published in the Wiley journal Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems, edited by Prof. Sarah Lovell. The peer-reviewed article is part of the journal’s…

Katrin Bohn • 4th October 2021

Aerial view of Carthage, today a borough of Tunis (source: University of Brighton and www 2021)

Supporting Carthage to become an ‘edible city’

Today, Katrin and her team at the University of Brighton began their consultancy and design research with the Tunisian City of Carthage in a first (online) co-design meeting. This Spring, we have joined the Carthaginian city team – consisting of local council representatives, research institutes and interested citizens – to co-develop with the local community…

Katrin Bohn • 22nd September 2021

The Vier- und Marschlande, located in the south-east of the City of Hamburg, are a 14,000ha agricultural and horticultural area. (source: HafenCity University 2021)

New prospects for a cultivated landscape in Hamburg

Last week, Katrin Bohn was invited as a guest critic to the presentation of design projects by Masters’ students of the Architecture and Landscape program at HafenCity University Hamburg in Germany. The urban planning and architecture students, under the guidance of Prof. Antje Stokman and Anne Kittel, were tasked to think about strategies for the…

Katrin Bohn • 13th September 2021

Cover of the new book Food Urbanism by Craig Verzone (source: Birkhäuser www 2021)

From CPUL to Food Urbanism

The beginning of July saw the publication of Food Urbanism, a book edited by Craig Verzone and published by Birkhäuser. Subtitled Typologies, Strategies, Case Studies, the book ‘introduces typologies, tools, evaluation methods and strategies [of urban food production] and shows the practical applications of the methods’. Multiple projects illustrate solutions that augment quality of nutrition…

Katrin Bohn • 19th July 2021

Valley Gardens in Brighton (site plan to the left) is one of four urban commons explored in this research project. (source: Alessandro Zambelli 2019)

Creative mapping project seeks participants

In-Common Sites is a participatory creative research project that explores the social, cultural, ecological and future value of four urban commons: The Downs, Bristol; Mousehold Heath, Norwich; Town Moor, Newcastle upon Tyne and Valley Gardens, Brighton. Yesterday, its artist-researchers have sent out this call: ‘The project needs help to chart on the ground experiences of…

Katrin Bohn • 10th June 2021

Sandy Lane Farm in Oxfordshire is one of the farms considered in the report. (source: Nina Osswald Veg Cities www 2021)

Improving access to land for food production in Oxfordshire, GB

Mark Stein, author of the very active twitter feed @MarkSteinLancs, made us aware of a recently published research report on the ‘huge potential to convert land to horticulture’ in the County of Oxfordshire. The research by local network Good Food Oxford focuses on ‘how land might be made more accessible to promote a diverse, resilient,…

Katrin Bohn • 7th June 2021

Land use of council-owned land in Brighton & Hovee. The dark green areas are farms. (source: Brighton & Hove City Council www 2021)

The Brighton & Hove City Downland Estate Plan

Last Friday, André Viljoen and Katrin Bohn took part in an online meeting with officers of Brighton & Hove City Council to discuss a collaboration on the City’s Circular Economy Programme. The meeting’s host, Nicholas Fishlock, Project Manager at the City’s Regeneration Team, explained that the Circular Economy Programme is currently being developed and will…

Katrin Bohn • 10th May 2021

Sealed wild bees nest in a tree stump (source: Monika Egerer, Forschungs-Update für Gemeinschaftsgärten-Projekt März 2021)

Spiel/Feld Marzahn counts high number of plant species.

The research team behind the Wild Pollinator Project has just published the 2020 report about its work in and with 18 Berlin community gardens, including Spiel/Feld Marzahn. A scientific recording of numbers and types of plant species in the gardens was one aspect of the research aiming to better understand relationships between pollinators, pollen and…

Katrin Bohn • 5th April 2021

'Consumed: Communicating energy use with land art infographics' by Kristian Megyeri, Overlook Field School, Workshop 'Landscapes of Power' 2014 (source: Fuller Center for Productive Landscapes www 2021)

Productive Landscapes and Productive Urban Landscapes for sustainable futures

While completing a review for a book proposal, we came across the Fuller Center for Productive Landscapes (FCPL) at the University of Oregon, USA. Headed up by Prof. Roxi Thoren, who is also the department head for Landscape Architecture, the FCPL is a teaching center for ‘research-based design and design as research, focused on the…

Andre Viljoen • 29th March 2021

The TNOC Festival happens from 22nd to 26th February 2021 online. (source: TNOC www 2021)

INVITE: The Nature of Cities Festival

We are pleased to share this invitation to The Nature of Cities (TNOC) Festival which will happen online from 22nd to 26th February 2021. Since our first contribution to TNOC in 2016 – now making it one of the earlier contributions – we have closely followed its many conversations on subjects around urban nature. The…

Katrin Bohn • 9th February 2021

Thamesmead is home to about 45,000 people. (source: Architect's Journal www 2021)

Green and blue landscapes will be part of new housing scheme in London

We are pleased to announce that White Arkitekter’s team which includes Bohn&Viljoen has been selected as one of ten teams to bid for the design and planning of the Thamesmead Waterfront development in East London. The two-stage Town of Tomorrow competition – organised by Colander Associates – will select a ‘visionary and strategic’ masterplanner to…

Katrin Bohn • 14th January 2021

Number of publications using the term 'foodscape' in the publications included in the review (2019 from January to June) (source: Vonthron S., Perrin C. and Soulard C.T., PLoS ONE 15(5): e0233218, 2020)

Productive urban landscape, foodscape, urban horticulture and the edible city

June and October 2020 saw the publication of two academic papers on urban food that reference the Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL) concept when contextualising their own work within the various definitions of food-related urban design concepts. This is of interest to us as we have followed the emergence of the urban agriculture and urban…

Katrin Bohn • 24th November 2020

Irena Pivka and Brane Zorman of Cona Institute Ljubljana were shortlisted for the Museum of Walking's Sound Walk September 2020 Awards for their work Sandbox. (source: Irena Pivka www 2020)

Sound walks offer a new way to travel

Referring to the current Covid-19 pandemic, an article in last week’s Guardian newspaper reported about urban and landscape walking tours ‘at a time when many people are struggling to make it too far beyond their front door’. The featured sound walks are one of the activities that the Museum of Walking is heavily involved with,…

Katrin Bohn • 20th November 2020

Elevated light-weight bridges allow for flowing agricultural landscape and unhindered production as well for unexpected views. (source: Alkisti Volonasis and Romila Faye Strub 2020)

Productive urban landscapes as a response to intense urbanisation in Peru

We are pleased to share the Masters’ thesis project Lima 4.0: Territorial fragility as an agent of agricultural innovation by Alkisti Volonasis and Romila Faye Strub who recently graduated from Politecnico di Milano’s MSc in Architecture. Alkisti contacted us about a month ago, and since then we have exchanged several emails about their design research…

Katrin Bohn • 17th November 2020